


Hale & Co. Supernatural Consultancy

by TheLoyalFriend



Series: This Is Not A Chain Store, Ma'am. [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, BAMF Stiles, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Magic Stiles, Original Character Death(s), Slow Build, Slow Burn, Supernatural Consultancy, mythical creatures, the SHERIFF KNOWS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-26
Updated: 2013-08-26
Packaged: 2017-12-24 17:14:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/942490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLoyalFriend/pseuds/TheLoyalFriend
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Welcome to Hale & Co. Supernatural Consultancy where we assist you with problems with the supernatural. We’re open Mon-Sun, seven thirty am to nine pm. No problems too big or too small.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hale & Co. Supernatural Consultancy

**Author's Note:**

> I literally read supernatural consultant agency and went, welp shit. Also cries because I have like two other fics that I’m working on that are just getting nowhere so I’m literally writing three things at once so.  
> This story takes place in a world where supernatural creatures exist and the human population is okay with it. Obviously there is a few biased here and there, but think Harry Potter, except the entire world knows and accepts it like the Wizarding World.

Stiles was pretty sure there was something wrong the second he entered his new house. He felt it in his bones because he always had a second nature when it came to the supernatural since his mother had been half Vila, but since he was not a girl the genes did not pass on to him when he was born. All he was given was a heightened awareness of the supernatural that his mother was trying to teach him more about before she died.

So, when Stiles stepped into his new house with his dad following close behind him, he stopped and narrowed his eyes. There was something in his house; he just wasn’t sure what it was yet. He pushed the thoughts aside because his mother had always told him, ‘sometimes there are good spirits or creatures that live in houses and protect you so you should not be weary unless things start to go bad’. Stiles lived by that code and in his house back in New Orleans, the paranormal capital of all of America, and back there, there were a number of things that lived in his house and most of them protected his father and him.

For example, there was the tiny Lamassu statue his mother had gotten from her mother. The Lamassu never showed its spirit form to Stiles or his father, but neither really minded as long as it kept them safe, which it did and they were eternally grateful. Hopefully once Stiles put it in a proper shrine area over their house’s new fireplace it’d make sure whatever was in his house would not harm them if it was to cause any harm. There was also the cactus cat that liked to sneak into the basement and sleep there. Once Stiles’ found him, he named him Bobby because he originally thought that a bobcat had stalked into his house. Stiles eventually started feeding Bobby and Bobby would leave fresh kills either on the foot of his bed or at the front door, which unsettled his father to no end, but he said nothing about it.

His favorite of all the creatures that lived in or wandered into his house were the brownies. Although his father never saw them, Stiles had somehow managed to befriend them after extensive studies on how to please them. The reason why he knew they existed was one day he left a apple tart on the kitchen counter and a stack of dirty dishes and the next day the tart was gone as well as the dishes. Once he researched and left tokens of honey or porridge or on occasions both, he ended up seeing one by accident. The brownie at first did scurry away but eventually Stiles apologized and they became quick friends.

Which reminded him that the brownie, Roland, had asked to come along on their move to California’s unknown town of Beacon Hills, and was currently hiding in Stiles’ backpack. It was probably a good time to let him out now before he suffocated or died of boredom.

Once he and his father decided on the floor plans for the second floor, his father got the master bedroom, he got the second biggest room, the two smaller rooms were for both of their offices, Stiles went to let Roland out of the bag. Stiles’ dad’s office was going to be used for his new job as the county Sherriff, unlike his old job in New Orleans as the Deputy, and he needed more space. Stiles’ needed his office for a sort of crime lab of his own, except it was going to be only based on supernatural creatures. He had gotten his college degree in Supernatural Studies and was either going to attempt to keep working on his masters to teach it or he was going to attempt to join the law enforcement as a research assistant. He wasn’t sure yet.

Once he opened his door and put his bag on the frame that was going to eventually be his bed he let Roland out of his backpack and tapped him awake. Roland blinked up to Stiles sleepily before he climbed out of the bag and ran off to make himself comfortable. Stiles was sure he wouldn’t see Roland for a while, but that was okay, Roland was a free brownie allowed to do whatever he wanted. This was his house as much as it was Stiles’ for all he cared.

* * *

It had been a week since Stiles’ moved in and finally tag teaming between his father and him with bits of help here and there from Roland, they finally managed to unpack the house almost exactly as it had been back in New Orleans. The first floor consisted of their kitchen, dining room, living room and storage closets. The basement was left alone with a couch that used to be used by Bobby incase another visitor would come to live with them occasionally, and Stiles’ finally set up his office with his mythology books on a shelf, print outs of different bestiaries pinned up on his pin up bored and his work laptop on the desk, which also doubled as his laptop for everything else as well until he could by a separate one.

But the strange thing was, he was sure things were going missing around his house now that they had everything unpacked. It started with a few toy robots that he had kept as a reminder of his mother. They lined all six of them on one of the single unit bookshelf he had nailed into his wall. One day he was walking past them and noticed; there were only five. Originally he had left Roland a note because Roland still did not like to be seen much even though he was used to Stiles’ seeing him. Therefore they mostly talked through notes after Stiles’ taught him how to read with occasional exceptions. Roland had replied the next morning that he neither took the robot nor saw anyone take the robot. Other than Lamassu and Roland, he had said, there was currently nothing else in the house that he had seen or felt. But Stiles knew that couldn’t be, because the lingering feeling that something was in the house hadn’t left.

The next occurrence that happened was Stiles’ father coming into his office during one of his online research binges he was doing while working freelance on helping people with supernatural problems from states away. His father has asked him if as some kind of prank, Stiles decided to cut his father’s toenails dangerously small. Stiles pursed his lip and shook his head, and again he asked Roland who gave the same answer as before.

Eventually Stiles got tired of it and did all the research he could, but he couldn’t be sure that what was in his house, was what he thought it was. Tired and annoyed, Stiles decided that it was a good day to wander the new town and maybe look for a proper job to keep his mind occupied rather than stressing over whatever it was that was harming his father and taking his stuff.

Soon after hours of pointless walking, still deep in thought of what he didn’t want to think about, Stiles finally stopped. He assessed for a moment before he realized, he was completely lost. Sighing, Stiles decided to keep walking down the path he was walking until he found something that looked familiar or saw a deputy to help him out. But, after a few steps he stopped and turned because it seemed to him as if something was watching him. Licking his lips and walking, he finally noticed that this part of town seemed rather unusually—empty. Like really empty, like if Stiles was in a slasher flick and was about to get chopped up and eaten.

Stiles’ breath quickened as a shot of uneasiness filled his blood stream and he picked up his pace until after a few minutes he broke out in a run. He ran for probably no longer than five minutes before he looked to be at what looked like a crossroad, but that couldn’t be right, he was in the middle of a town, albeit a small one, but it was full enough so that people were normally everywhere. Something still felt wrong, like this place wasn’t supposed to exist and it was twisting him to go to somewhere, like he didn’t have a choice, and it seemed to be in a deeper greyscale than the other parts of town. Maybe it would be better if he just let the wind guide him, his mother was a being of wind so he always trusted it to lead him to safety.

So Stiles stopped, closed his eyes and breathed. He stood in the middle of the crossroads he was sure wasn’t supposed to exist, but it was known that sometimes people get caught in a trap which makes them feel like there in places they’re not supposed to, so what he needed was to calm down and focus on getting out. The gentle breeze of wind slowly pushed his towards what he hopped was safety, and with his eyes still closed he followed the push of the wind until he heard a bell in front of him. Stiles stopped and bit his lip. He sighed and took one last deep breath before opening his eyes and the world seemed to come back to him.

Stiles was in a part of town he remembered walking into when he first drove to the center of town where most of the shops and the school was. He felt better hearing the chatter of the fellow citizens around him, and eventually noticed that the color scale seemed to finally reestablish itself and nothing was as grey as it seemed. That’s when Stiles decided to look at the store in front of him.

 _Hale & Co._ _Supernatural Consultancy._

Stiles blinked, then he blinked again and rubbed his eyes, but he was sure he was reading the sign correctly. The windows of the store were tinted so you could not see the inside very clearly. The outside looked like an older building, a creamy yellow color that was slowly fading and needed to be repainted, even though the yellow was not the original color of the brick. There was a plant hanging on one side of the building and the name of the store was chipping, meaning it had to be an older building.

Stiles pondered and put his hand on the door handle. Maybe, _just maybe,_ they could tell him what was going on in his house, but he wasn’t sure if he should go inside. He took his hand of the door and then walked a few steps before stopping and pacing back to the door. But then again, Stiles did need help since for some reason even though he had studied this for the better part of his life he couldn’t find out what it was. Maybe the help couldn’t hurt. But, again Stiles walked a few paces away before returning and this continued for a while.

“Uhm,” A voice from behind Stiles said startling him out of his pacing and had him twist to meet the face it came from. A slightly tan man stood before him, slightly shorter than him with eyes that reminded Stiles of a puppy with a confused smile on his face. It was then that he noticed that the guy was holding the door to _Hale & Co. _open and Stiles gave him a deer in the headlight look.

“I’m not crazy.” Stiles said on almost autopilot because he was sure he’d been pacing outside the store for probably ten minutes give or take.

“You’ve kinda been pacing outside for about half an hour and our manager is getting worried that you’re going to think yourself into a problem or something and wants me to tell you that you’re thinking so loud that he can practically hear you from inside.” The guy said, shrugged, opened the door wider and waited. Stiles, though, did not move from his spot because wow, this was not what he had planned, he had literally just decided that this was stupid and he’d figure everything out on his own and it’d be okay. “C’mon already.” The guy said, rolling his eyes before grabbing Stiles’ wrist and pulling him inside. Stiles tensed slightly as he felt an unusual tingle that he felt whenever someone not human touched him.

“What are you?” Stiles asked, because he had no tacit and he was just a genuinely curious person. The guy just gave him another confused smile as he pushed Stiles further into the store. Stiles took a second to assess the store, it looked a lot like his office at home, except bigger with more information and noticed six smaller desks. Five of those were filled with information on different creatures and then in the back was a rather large desk made of a heavy dark wood. Behind four of the desks one girl and three other boys, and in the large desk was another older man who eyebrows were furrowed as he read something.

“I’m Scott, and we’re all werewolves.” Scott said as he shrugged and lead Stiles back towards the larger desk, which he now noticed had twice as many books and papers scattered around it as well as a grumpy looking man behind it, where as everyone else looked generally nice.

“Well, I’m going to go get coffee, anyone want anything?” A voice from behind Stiles called and a _very_ attractive man with light brown hair, very blue eyes and a to die for British accent. That’s when Stiles’ hears the growling from behind him and laughter from a blonde girl sitting in the table next to them.  “Sorry, Scott’s kinda the jealous type.”

“Oh?” Stiles said tilting his head before looking behind him and taking a step back seeing the puppy like boy, err, _Scott_ giving him flashing golden eyes. “Oh. I’m—er, sorry I don’t. I mean. I’m just.” Stiles bit his lip and backed away from both Scott and the British werewolf, making sure not to trip on his way out. “Y-Yeah, this was a bad idea, I’m just going to go home.”

“No, no. Stop, I’m sorry I just. Isaac and I just finally finalized out mating ritual so we’re going to be a bit more jealous of each other than usual. It’s like, uh, marriage for humans but stronger because we’re wolves.” Scott said, taking Stiles’ wrist in his hand again before pushing him in front of the grumpy guy who was now looking up, and if he thought that Isaac was attractive then, damn, because those hazel eyes did things to him that he would probably be thinking about until late in the night.

“Can we help you?” The grump guy said and Stiles shook his head dumbly because he did not expect that voice to sound as deep as it did, which would also haunt him into the night. “Well, what is it?”

“U-uh, there’s something in my house. I mean, there’s always something in my house because we brought our brownie with us from New Orleans as well as my mom’s Lamassu, but it’s something that’s starting to worry me.” Stiles said but then he shrugged it off and bit his lip again. “I mean, I’m used to having creatures of the night or ancient mythology living in my house because we used to have a cactus cat, and it’s not pretty getting on its bad side, thorns you know.  But it’s just that this, whatever it is keeps taking things that belong to me and it cut off my dad’s toenails dangerously low, and I’m starting to worry it’ll do worse. I mean, Roland keeps telling me that there’s nothing in the house but him and Lamassu, but I know something is because I feel it.”

“So, what you’re saying is that you have a house guardian and a brownie that your brought from New Orleans to Beacon Hills, and there’s something in your house and you don’t know what it is?” The grump guy said and Stiles nodded. “Isaac, get me a double shot.”

“Aye, aye captain. Anything for you, love?” Isaac asked Scott, who grinned and nodded. Isaac smiled and placed a small kiss on the corner of Scotts mouth before slapping one of guys in the second row of desk’s on the back of the heading and making his way out. The guy literally barked out a curse and the black fellow next to him laughed under his breath.

“Could you guys please act less immature when we have customers in the shop? Seriously, it’s like I’m dealing with a pack of puppies rather than full-grown weres.” The grumpy guy said and Stiles coughed out a laugh, Scott rolled his eyes before dragging a chair over for Stiles and going back to his own area.

“Shut up, Derek, you love us the way we are.” The blonde haired girl said and rose a perfect eyebrow before going back to her own work. Derek rolled his eyes and turned back to Stiles.

“Uh. Yes. B-But I don’t really need the help, I’m sure I can figure it out myself. I went to college under the major of supernatural studies anyways.” When Stiles was done saying this, Derek raised one of his own eyebrows.

“You’re Stiles Stilinski?” Stiles tilted his head in confusion before nodding and Derek rolled back on his chair and stretched slightly, exposing a bit of his stomach and Stiles tried really hard not to emit any scents of arousal. “I met your father earlier. We usually work with the Sheriffs department with supernatural cases or we get rid of supernatural problems in a freelance form. We’re actually looking for a researcher because most of us are better at field work rather than research. Your father was telling me that he’d bring you over for a job interview tomorrow.” Derek said with a shrug and rolled back into his previous position, leaning forward.

“My dad needs to stay out of my business.” Stiles muttered before looking back at Derek, “And you are?”

“Derek Hale.”

“Oh, like the Hale in Hale and Company?”

“Something like that.” Derek said with a slight upturn of his lips like it was amusing. Stiles didn’t let it bother him. “So, anyways, about your job interview, is now a good time, because you’re already here and I’m busy tomorrow.”

“If you’re busy tomorrow, why did you tell my dad that you had time for a job interview?” Stiles asked, sitting back and giving Derek a pointed look.

“Because I got a job literally five minutes after, and it’s a good training if I give you the job.” Derek said, sitting back as well and crossing his arms. “So, now?”

Stiles pursed his lips before relaxing into the chair. He hated job interviews. “Why not, I mean I could always use the job and it’ll get my dad off my back.”

“What experience do you have with supernatural creatures?” Derek asked, “In any type of situation.”

“Well, I did graduate top of my class in supernatural studies, as well as caring for a cactus cat, a brownie, and a Lamassu. I worked at a bar through college run by a wereshark, whom I can give you his number as a reference. I assisted a shaman in training and I used to help the NOPD in supernatural cases. I also have an online site that I use to generally help people who email me their problems.” Stiles shrugged, Derek started scribbling things down onto a piece of paper and then looked back up at Stiles.

“So, you have worked on helping people with supernatural problems? How many times did you manage to successfully help those people, and how many tries did it take you?”

“Normally after I get all the information, I pile everything together and spend maybe a day or two with my limited resources to discover the problem and then I email them back and normally I’m right, it’s normally 90% accuracy because I try to be as extensive in my search as I can.”

“You’re father told me you have some kind of, supernatural sixth sense.” This question caught Stiles off-guard, because it made him think of his mother and his father actually talking about his powers meant thinking about his mother, which normally upset his father. Stiles shrugged.

“My mother was part Vila, obviously since I’m not a girl the genes didn’t pass off to me, but normally I can sense when something’s in the house, like whatever’s in mine, or I can tell someone’s not human because my body reacts a certain way to contact. It’s weird, but I am 100% human carrying dormant Vila genes so.”

“Right, so be here tomorrow at seven am sharp.” Derek said, filing out the rest of the paper, which after leaning forward made Stiles realize he was drawing not writing. He was drawing a _tree_ , Stiles fought the urge to roll his eyes before nodding and walking out. But before he reached the door, Derek called him. Stiles turned with a raised eyebrow. “It’s a Duende, in your house. We’ve dealt with at least six of them; they plague the house in Beacon Hills like mice. Just make a place of offering for them, because there are white and black ones. White ones are generally nice and work like brownies or just leave you alone. Black ones start taking things and attacking people. In the offering place put either unsalted cooked meat or fresh fruit.”

“Thanks.” Stiles said hesitantly before walking out of the store right as Isaac was about to walk back inside. Giving Isaac a small smile, he walked back over to where he parked his car and left.

When he got home he did as he was advised, set the alarm for six and went about his business, leaving some honey and a note for Roland about the situation.

* * *

When Stiles woke up that morning, the first thing he noticed was on the wall across from his bed where his robots where, instead of five there were indeed six. It worked. Sighing contently, he got ready for the day and strolled downstairs to get started on breakfast.

At six thirty he had two plates of eggs, turkey bacon and toast ready and as his father walked into the kitchen, he placed them down on the table. His father smiled and laughed at the smiley face arranged on his plate and dug in.

“So, there’s this supernatural consultant agency in town.” His father started and Stiles rolled his eyes at the smiley face looking up at him. “I was thinking that you could, you know, maybe try getting a job there. They need a researcher.”

“I was there yesterday, today’s my training day. But thanks dad, you know, for letting me be a big boy and find my own jobs.” Stiles joked lightly, causing his dad to place a hand on his for a moment before pulling back.

“I just worry about you kid, you know that.” His dad said with affection behind his tone and Stiles sighed contently. “And you know that uh, Derek kid’s not too bad looking. He seems nice enough.” Stiles promptly choked on his orange juice.

“Dad, are you trying to kill me? Is that it? Please, _please_ stay out of my love life. I don’t need a repeat of what happened with Matt, because that was not pretty.” Stiles said, finishing off his food and standing up.

“Fair enough kid, but I’m just. I want grandchildren eventually.” His dad said honestly and Stiles dropped the dishes in the sink before turning back to his dad and leaning against the counter.

“I’m twenty-two, dad. I have time, you have time, we all have time.” Stiles said as he headed towards the door, grabbed his car keys out of the bowl and made his way out the door. “Bye, dad, have a great day at work.”

“You too!” His father called back before Stiles closed the door and drove into town.

Once he parked and made his way over to Hale & Co, he made sure to stop and read the sign that he missed the last time he was there.

_Welcome to Hale & Co. Supernatural Consultancy where we assist your problems with the supernatural. We’re open Mon-Sun, seven thirty am to nine pm. No problems too big or too small._

Smiling lightly at it, he pushed the door open and made his way inside even though he was all of five minutes early and the store doesn’t actually open for another forty minutes. The only person inside right now, unlike yesterday, was Derek.

“Front right desk is yours. The desk to your left belongs to Scott, behind Scott is Boyd’s desk, and behind yours is Jackson’s. Keep away from Jackson’s stuff, he’s anal about everything. Behind Jackson’s desk is Erica’s and then next to hers is Isaac’s.” Derek said from his desk, not really paying attention and was more focused on his files again.  “Boyd and Erica are also mated but they’re bond is not at new as Scott and Isaac’s so you won’t have to worry.”

“Uh, thanks.” Stiles said before putting his stuff down on the desk that was now his and pulled out his laptop, put it on his desk and booted it up. He was glad that he brought some of his own books and copies of his prints of myths so he set to work to making his desk look relatively like the others, except he probably had more books than most of them. “So, bossman, what are we in for today?”

“Don’t call me that.” Derek grumbled and said nothing else, so Stiles hesitated a moment, but sat down and began typing his recent reply to the recent online person who needed his assistance. After a few moments the door opened and the bell rung, but Stiles didn’t bother looking up because he was too busy replying in as much detail as he could.

“Hey, Bambi, I see you’re an early riser. I had to drag Scott out of bed.” Isaac’s smooth British voice commented and finally after hitting send, Stiles looked up with a bright smile.

“I have to be, if not my dad’ll eat himself into a coma or worse.” Stiles commented, noticing how Scott looked like he was ready to curl up on the floor and sleep. “And it’s Stiles, Stiles Stilinski.”

“Isaac Hale-McCall.” Isaac said, with a smile that made his cheekbones prominent and damn, he could probably cut diamonds with them. “This is Scott. And I think Bambi suits you. You’ve got the whole deer in the headlights look.”

“I do not.” Stiles said, pouting ever so slightly, causing Isaac to laugh and Scott to sleepily nod and slump into his seat before curling his head on the desk and start snoring. Slowly the black man and the blonde walked in together hand and hand, laughing about something. The blonde gave him a kiss on the cheek even though Stiles didn’t really know her well yet, and the black man gave him a nod.

“I’m Boyd, and that’s Erica.” He said as he walked up to Stiles and extended his hand to him. Stiles took it with a smile.

“Stiles. Pleasure.”

Finally the last member of their merry pack of workers, and actual pack, came walking in looking entirely put together with a pair of ray bans acting like he was the best of the best. He didn’t give Stiles even a look as he slipped into his seat and shuffled through some papers.

“Hey, I’m Stiles.” Stiles said as he turned to face the guy who’s slipped his ray bans into his shirt pocket. The guy gave him a once over before turning back to his book, and Stiles was pretty sure he heard him say cattle under his breath.

“Jackson, stop being an asshole.” Isaac called from his desk and Jackson flipped him off. Stiles rolled his eyes and turned back to his desk, arranging it to his liking and then finally after the clock above the door turned half past seven, Stiles kicked Scotts chair to wake him.

Scott gave a small whine, but got up and rubbed his eyes, pouting slightly like Stiles had actually kicked him and was now a traitor. Stiles just shrugged like it was a normal occurrence, because oddly enough, everything felt natural with Scott. Scott gave him a light punch on the shoulder but they got started on their work for the day, which, Stiles had no idea what that was for him so he just sat idly.

At around ten Derek got up and walked up to Stiles, pulling him out of his seat and pushing him out the door.

“Uhm, what are you doing?” Stiles asked as he tried to turn but Derek kept pushing him until they reached a sleek black Camaro, of which Derek unlocked and shoved Stiles into. “I don’t appreciate your pushiness, Derek. It’s not an attractive quality.”

“We’re going for your training.” Derek grunted before he led them off to where they were going, Stiles momentarily thought that it could have been the pits of hell. But he’d chalk that up on watching too much Supernatural, even though that show was not favored by many people who actually were supernatural creatures. Stiles wasn’t sure why he watched it, but he did. It was a rather old show too, ending maybe a good twenty-thirty years ago, starting before the whole peace treaty was signed and hunting became completely illegal.

Stiles sighed because Derek wasn’t talking, and whenever he tried to talk, Derek gave him his alpha-shut-the-fuck-up stare, so Stiles settled on tapping a beat on Derek’s car while watching the scenery. Derek refused to let Stiles play the radio so he had to settle with Stiles’ drumming on the car’s dashboard because Stiles was bored and was possibly being lead to his death.

Finally after a good maybe half an hour give or take Derek stopped at an older looking house in an older part of town. Letting himself out of the car and stretching his arms above his head, he looked at Derek for what to do now. Derek motioned Stiles towards the door then knocked twice before waiting for the door to swing open. The woman who answered was probably in her twenties, but looked worse for wear and then tilted her head.

“I’m Derek Hale and this is Stiles.” Derek motioned between them, and the woman already seemed to brighten probably just because of the name Hale. “We’re here from Hale & Company Supernatural Consultancy. You called yesterday. Mrs. Bryn?”

“Y-Yes, that’s me. Please.” she said before pausing and stepping out of the way, “please come inside.”  Stiles walked in first, scurrying past, after he took five steps in. Derek followed and Mrs. Bryn closed the door. Stiles took a deep breath and paused. He did feel something abnormal in the house and he could hear Derek sniffing the air.

“I-we think it might be a poltergeist.” Mrs. Bryn said as she moved towards the living room area, Stiles and Derek following behind. Stiles as he walked made sure to take everything in, there was certain feeling in the air, and he knew it couldn’t be any of the normal creatures that lived in houses because it didn’t feel like anything he’d dealt with before.

“It doesn’t feel like a spirit per say.” Stiles commented as he sat down with Derek on the couch, beside him Derek nodded in agreement.

“It had a scent, so it can’t really be a spirit because most spirits don’t have a scent.” Derek explained and Stiles pursed his lips as he looked around the room, slowly, almost calculatingly. “Can you tell us what’s been happening?”

“Well, in the beginning everything was fine, we were happy and we moved in and things were going great. But slowly we got busier and were home less and when we were home things have been happening. Pots raddling, loud crashes, and even my husband woke up with a scratch on his arm.” Mrs. Bryn explained trying to recall everything, and it did indeed sound like a poltergeist, but if Derek could smell something and Stiles knew it didn’t feel like a spirit like his Lamassu.

“Is that it, or has anything else happened? Strange or not, death maybe.” Stiles asked, and then offered her an option of something possible, because he did remember reading up on something for his final project on similarities between spirits and creatures.

“Well, we had a dog, he died after a week of moving in, but he was a puppy so it was rather unusual.” Mrs. Bryn said. Sighing, she dropped her face in her hands and shrugged. “I can’t think of anything else.”

To this Derek nodded and stood up, motioning Stiles to come with him, and she led them to the door. Derek was explaining the protocol that they’d do research until they knew what exactly was in her house before they got back to her but before Stiles left, he turned back and looked at her. He wasn’t sure what it was but he had an idea, so it wouldn’t harm her to try.

“Mrs. Bryn, I’m not exactly one hundred percent sure what is in your house, but you can try this. Put a piece of salted bread in a white cloth and wrap it, then place it by either the threshold of your door or by the stove. The stove might be a better option. If we don’t call you, call us tomorrow and tell us what happened.” Stiles offered before walking past Derek, who raised an eyebrow to him and walked into his car.

“What was that?” Derek asked as they walked back inside Hale & Co after the drive home. Stiles gave him a questioning look, which obviously was saying; what was what? “Back at the house. The bread.”

“Oh. For my final paper I wrote about the similarities between spirits and mythical creatures.” Stiles shrugged before he went to his desk, pulled up his laptop and went full on research mode, in which no one could bother him. After a good half hour of googling, Stiles walked up the ladder to the second floor landing and searched through the books, pulling out two and heading back to his desk while he continued to read up.

After a few hours of extensive research, Stiles was almost sure he knew what was in the house, but he wasn’t sure if he should tell Derek yet seeing as he wanted to completely sure so he wouldn’t get yelled at. Therefore he took the leave for the night and waited until tomorrow to call Mrs. Bryn. So when he walked back inside the next day, pulling up everything from yesterday, he double checked and cross referenced again, and then finally at around twelve, the phone rang.

“Hello, this is Stiles Stilinski from Hale & Co Supernatural Consultancy. How may I help you?” He said as he reread a sentence on the book he was reading.

“Hello? This is Mrs. Bryn. I thought that I’d call you and let you know that last night and this morning nothing happened.” Stiles paused and sat up straight. He knew that Derek could probably hear this conversation from his desk in the back. “And the bread is gone.”

“I see, well, keep doing that and we’ll get back to you soon.” Stiles said, and now he had no doubt what was in the house. Sitting up and grabbing one of the books he walked over to Derek’s desk and dropped it in front of Derek. The Alpha gave him an upwards glace before looking at the book.

“A domovoi?” Derek asked before he read everything that page offered and flipped the page, but frowned because there was no other information. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, domovoi are home based spirits who are normally not visible. It’s speculated that they live near the threshold or under the stove, as well as they might be seen by calling them maser as a sign of respect. A domovoi has the ability to become similar to a poltergeist when the house is impurely cared for or the owners neglect it. They are also known to kill animals they dislike. The animal thing was what tipped me off. I knew the bread thing because that’s what I had to write in my paper, how to stop the creature from acting so malicious, normally they’re good and help around the house because it’s also their house but sometimes they go bad.” Stiles shrugged and Derek nodded at the information, writing things down to tell the client, but he paused and looked up at Stiles.

“How do you get rid of it?” Derek asked and Stiles gave him a pointed look.

“Weren’t you paying attention, you don’t. The house is his as much as it is theirs. What they can do is appease it. By that they can take better care of the house and make it more lived in, because they were neglecting it by being busy. They also can make offerings of bread and milk to it. Some people said that by hanging an old boot in their yards is another way to cheer it up. But it’s not leaving and as long as it’s happy it’s friendly.” Stiles ranted, because honestly some people just didn’t listen. Derek finished writing things down and stood up.

“Good job, Stiles.” He said and with that, he left.

A week later they got a call saying that there were no more problems but instead everything was running smoothly in the house of Mrs. Bryn. Stiles was happy for them and proud of his first job well done. Isaac, Scott, Erica, Jackson, and Boyd threw him a cupcake party with cupcake’s Jackson’s girlfriend Lydia and her best friend Allison made. They were delicious but Derek decided to be grumpy and not take part in Stiles’ awesome first job well done. Instead he gave Stiles a pat on the shoulder and went back to work.

* * *

A few months pass and other than the occasional passerby with an unusual supernatural problem, which does not take them a long time to finish, wandered in. Even more rarely did Stiles' father come with a slightly problematic case that his department couldn't solve and those days his father literally beamed because, finally after all the year he's legally working with his son and knows he's safe, because Stiles had a pack of werewolves that had ended up growing overly attached to him, including Jackson. But it happened; the six of them had movie nights every Friday and Jackson brought along his girlfriend, Lydia who Stiles was sure was the most perfect thing on the planet. She was also a badass witch who you knew not to mess with. She and Scott ended up being closer to him than he thought anyone ever could in the matter of a few months.

But along with getting closer to the kids, Stiles felt more and more inclined to know about his estranged boss, who would not allow Stiles on the field without him. It was comforting, but at the same times drove Stiles mad because other than the basic habits he picked up from Derek and the tidbits of information he got from Isaac, he still didn't know much of anything about the enigma that was Derek Hale. So, what's a curious boy to do?

One day on a particularly slow afternoon in which Scott and Isaac went to go get lunch with Boyd and Erica, and Jackson decided to take a few personal days off, Stiles found himself alone with the Alpha. He attempted to keep working, because ever since he joined he made his old website into a website for Hale & Co and they were all expected to answer as many things as they could, which did keep them busy. But there was only so much supernatural activity that went on around the world and they weren't the most popular website on the internet so far, so some ways they had gotten nothing at all, or they worked with a slower pace to keep them occupied tending to do more indent research than quick answers that solved the problem and maybe caused it to resurface later, not that that happened often. This particular day, Stiles managed to get all his work done and turned to look at the big desk in the back that was now void of books.

The second floor which was just made up of a walkway and walls, after Stiles' insistence, had been turned into a supernatural library, so the books were now all kept up there and everyone had more room. Derek's rather large desk was now mostly covered with papers and now and then a laptop, but today was void of everything. Derek was leaning back on his chair and Stiles was convinced the Alpha was sleeping, or resting his eyes. So therefore, Stiles slowly approached the desk, sat on it and finally turned so his converse clad feet were on both sides of Derek's rolly chair. This caused Derek to sit up with a raised eyebrow, questioning Stiles about his actions.

"You know, other than explaining something or giving job interviews or talking to Isaac you don't say a lot." Stiles noted causing Derek to roll his eyes and sit straight. "Like, dude, I wanna actually get to know you, like everyone else. Hell, I'm pretty sure Jackson likes me more than you do and Jackson's just an asshole who only really likes himself."

"What do you want to know?" Derek asked in a bored tone and Stiles shrugged. 

"Tell me about your family, I know Isaac's your step brother because his dad is an asshole and your mom took him in. I know Jackson's adopted, Erica and Boyd gave up on their families who didn't care and made one with each other. And Scott's mom has kind of become a second mom to me within the four months I've gotten to know her because somehow Scott's ended up being like my best friend. Then there's you, and I relatively know nothing." Stiles said, giving a thoughtful smile, "I just wanna know you."

Derek hesitated before he nodded and took a breath before he spoke. "We adopted Isaac when he was six, so he's been in my life for about fifteen years. My pack used to live here in Beacon Hills, my grandpa was the original owner of this Hale & Co. When I was sixteen there was a lot of pro-hunter revolves going around and one of them tried to set our house on fire with everyone still inside. But we managed to stop her."

"That sucks. No one got hurt, right?" Stiles asked, curiosity shinning in his eyes as he gently ran his hand on Derek's cheek before pulling it away.

"No, but my sister decided to move to New York two years later and my family decided to go with her. But I decided to stay back, to run the consultancy, and Isaac stayed with me. My mother decided that she would give me the Alpha powers because I would need it, then she turned Isaac and it was me and him." Derek said lacing his hands together on his lap before shrugging, "we keep in touch, letters, phone calls, occasional visits."

“So, how’d everyone else end up in your pack?” That was the one thing Stiles never asked, originally assuming they were all family to begin with.

"When Scott was fifteen there was a rouge Alpha in the high school. It bit ten people, six died and four survived. I killed it and the lot joined my pack even though they didn't have to. But before that, Jackson ended up being a kanima and it was not pretty."  Derek said, even though he smiled fondly at the memory. “Isaac though, we found a year later who was having troubling circumstances so my mother adopted him and offered him the bite. Scott was the first one to willingly join the pack, then Erica, Boyd and Jackson followed.”

After that there was silence, comfortable, and Stiles hesitantly allowed his hand to be placed back on Derek's cheek, slowly caressing it. He cautiously allowed his hand to rub small circles on the side of Derek's scalp making its way to the back of his head. Their eyes were locked and neither said anything, until the bell on the door rang and Stiles slipped off of Derek's desk wordlessly and Derek went to grab a book from the library.

Scott was the one to notice the strange, but not uncomfortable atmosphere, but even when the others registered it, no one said anything about it. They just went about their normal business doing whatever or just messing around until something came up. But the barrier Stiles thought he felt put up between Derek and himself seemed to be slipping away slowly.

At the end of the day, Stiles finally got the nerve to ask Derek, after everyone left and Derek was closing for the day, "Hey, Derek, am I pack?"

Derek gave Stiles a strange look, one he didn't understand or could read. But when Derek did answer, Stiles felt all the air leave him.

"No, you're just our researcher."

* * *

Stiles was tapping a beat on his desk in the office listening to his iPod at a level that wouldn’t disturb everyone else, fucking werewolves and their hearing. Beside him, Scott listed and tapped along, moving his head from side to side.

“I’ve got my ticket for the long way round.” Erica half sung quietly as she painted her nails. “Two bottle whiskey for the way. And I sure would like some sweet company, because I’m leaving tomorrow, what do you say.”

Isaac decided in that moment to take his empty paper coffee cup and tap along, humming with the beat. Stiles pulls the pencil out of his pencil holder and starts following along with Isaac, pulling one of his headphones out. Scott turned and snagged one of Boyd’s travel sized coffee mugs. Boyd rolled his eyes and did the same with Erica’s. Jackson looked appalled at what was going on, but just out of sheer boredom, he used his own ceramic coffee cup.

“When I’m gone, when I’m gone. You’re going to miss me when I’m gone.” Erica sang a bit louder, sitting on her desk rather than her chair, blowing on her nails slightly. Stiles spun his chair around and beckoned Scott, Boyd and Isaac over to Jackson’s table and pushed aside a lot of the stuff and made a circle.

“When I’m gone, when I’m gone. You’re going to miss when I’m gone. You’re gunna miss me by my hair your gunna miss me everywhere. Oh, you’re sure going to miss me when I’m gone.” Erica sang, tapping a rhythm into Boyd’s shoulder as they kept up their steady pattern on the table with their cups. “You’re gunna miss me by my walk, you’re gunna miss me by my talk, oh you’re gunna miss me when I’m gone.”

“What are you idiots doing?” Derek asked as he walked into Hale & Co, giving them a raised eyebrow. Stiles’ dad followed behind Derek with an amused but affectionate smile on his face.

“We were reenacting a youtube video in the work place. Oh damn, someone should have recorded.” Stiles said and Scott grunted in agreement. The two caught eyes before laughing and the other joined before breaking back into their respective places.

“You guys are all ridiculous.” Derek said as he walked back to his desk, Stiles’ dad following along, but losing his amusement and going into cop mode. Stiles pursed his lips, in the few times he had been here he never went into full out cop mode, so this had to be serious.

“You’re just upset you missed it.” Stiles said throwing him a look over his shoulder to which Derek responded by rolling his eyes.

“Sheriff, as you were saying?” Derek asked politely, pulling the extra chair the kept back against the wall behind Erica’s desk, in front of his own desk for his dad to sit. Stiles got up and leisurely walked over to Derek’s desk and sat on the corner that he cleared of junk just for the purpose of him sitting. “What are you doing, Stiles?”

“Well, I’m the only researcher and you know you guy’s need me on scene to properly help so I might as well listen in rather than have you fill me in later.” Stiles shrugged, because he was right. That’s what ended up happening because none of them were capable in explaining things in proper detail to Stiles’ approval. Derek sighed and rolled his eyes and motioned for sheriff to continue.

“Well, as I said, we found two bodies in two different places killed the same way. At first we were thinking a possible serial killer before one of our more, spiritual, is that the right term for a Wiccan? Anyways, she noticed something about the bodies.” At this point the sheriff held out a folder to his son which Derek made a rather putout face to and caused Stiles’ to roll his eyes. He handed one of the two pictures to Derek and examined the other one.

“This is a ritual killing.” Stiles noted he wasn’t sure what type but he did remember reading about different type of rituals involving human sacrifice, because to be honest Hale & Co gets dry sometimes and he gets bored. “You can tell by the way the neck is cut in this picture. But I’m not completely sure because I haven’t seen the actual body. You might be able to tell if it’s a ritual killing or a human sacrifice depending on how many wounds a person has and depending on the types of bruises on a person’s body. Originally they were used to appease gods for better harvest or crops or even on occasion power. The old pagan deities lived off of human sacrifices. One common way of sacrifice that was offered back in the old days was to pick a virgin school girl and burn her in the middle of a crop field away from their crops to appease the gods and have a good harvest for the year.” Stiles rambled until he looked away from the picture and met eyes with both his dad and then Derek’s slightly creeped out stares. Then he looked out over to the puppies seeing them face matching his dad. Stiles’ rolled his eyes. “Oh, and did I mention I’m the murderer. Sorry dad.”

“Son, I think we need to have a talk about what you do in your spare time when we get home.” His dad said, patting him on his knee before looking at Derek with an exasperated sigh. “So, we have the bodies going through the autopsy right now and they should call me when they’re ready for me to come in, but I’m bringing it to you guys because as my son said, it may be a human sacrifice.”

“Did they find out any other things about the bodies yet, like who they are or anything that would connect them?” Derek asked and his dad frowned his I-know-something’s-up-but-I-can’t-find-it frown.

“See, that’s the thing. We can’t find anything about them that’s the same. One’s a woman, one’s a man. The girls blonde and 5’6 and the boy’s a brunette and 5’11. We literally cannot find any similarities between the two.” His dad said carding a hand through his hair in exasperation.

“Maybe it’s something deeper than that.” Stiles’ commented, offering his dad a shrug. “Maybe they knew each other or maybe… maybe they were the same _thing_.”

“You think this might actually be a ritual hate sacrifice?” Derek asked perking up and leaning forward with the suggestion.

“Well, the thing I do know about sacrifices is that, with every one there has to be not only a bigger reason for it but also a type of person. For example with druids, they did offer sacrifices to make themselves stronger to help them gain more power. They gained beauty with the sacrifices of virgins, the ability to heal with the sacrifices of healers, they gained battle tactics and plotting ability with the sacrifices of philosophers and they gained strength with the sacrifices of guardians. So therefore there literally has to be something that connects them, maybe you’re all just missing something, something that’s there and obvious but not quite visible without really looking for it.” Stiles offered and his dad licked his lips before frowning and looking from Derek to Stiles.

“We know that they’re not were-creatures or druids because druids are required the tattoos.” His father said and rubbed his hand on his face. “Maybe you can tell us when we get to the scene.”

“Scott, maybe you should take this case.” Derek said and Scott perked up with a small woo of happiness, because honestly they never got anything like this or anything this big. It was exciting and at least they weren’t going to be bored for a while.

“Why does McCall get the only case that actually sounds like it’s worth taking time to solve?” Jackson whined obviously putout and feeling totally wronged. “And Stiles always ends up on every case we get. It’s really getting to be stupidly biased in this building.”

“If it was getting biased Jackson, I’d be on every case seeing as how I’m actually Derek’s brother. Scott has been here the longest other than me and he and Derek have the most experience with solving cases with the police department. Stiles is the only researcher we have and we all know he can’t work well unless he’s on the field because it takes him less time and none of us are as good at researching as Stiles. Now suck it up and act your age, mate.” Isaac sassed, causing Erica to snicker into her hand and Stiles to just outwardly laugh. The only person who was really able to out asshole Jackson without actually being an asshole all the time was Isaac. “Might I add the last time you worked on a police case, you ended up setting the building on fire and let the perp get a away twice while Scott has actually managed to finish every one of his cases with the least amount of casualties and burning of public properties.”

“I think you should apply cold water and follow up with Aloe Vera, because that’s got to burn.”  Stiles said, walking up to Isaac and giving him a high five. “I think I might be a little bit in love with you, sorry Scott.”

“I’ll fight you for him.” Scott joked as he stood up and snapped his teeth in a playful way at Stiles. Stiles put up his hands in defeat.

“I know when I’m beat. But if we were having a fairer contest, like one in academics, I’d wipe the floor with you.” Stiles said then laughed, “We make a perfect team, I’m the brains and you’re the brawn.”

“This is literally the perfect job for you Stiles. Everyone seems to be your speed.” His dad deadpanned which caused everyone to stare at him for a second. “Except Derek and maybe Boyd. What? I was just making an observation.” With this everyone busted out laughing with the exception of the grumpy alpha and Stiles gave him a look.

“C’mon Derek, don’t be such a sourwolf.” Stiles said which caused another round of laugher and Erica doubling over.

“S-Sourwolf. That’s literally the most perfect thing I’ve ever heard to describe Derek, ever.” Erica wheezed out.

“Laura’s going to love that one.” Isaac said as he pulled out his phone and started texting, causing Derek’s eyes to flash red for a moment.

“Isaac, I swear to god if you tell Laura—“ Derek started but was cut off by Isaac tsking at him.

“What kind of brother would I be if I didn’t tell Laura?” He said as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Stiles, if you ever met Laura she might want to kidnap you and then add you to the family. Fair warning.”

“I feel like I should meet her just to get all the dirt on Derek so I can hold it over him forever and then he has to be nice to me.” Stiles said before walking over and slinging a shoulder over Isaac’s shoulder. “But then again, I have you.”

“Very true.”

“Isaac!” Derek warned but it was too late and Isaac again pulled his phone out and showed him that baby photos of Derek he had on his phone. One was him as a tiny wolf pup but his lower half didn’t change.

“Oh my god! That’s so precious, send it to me I wanna make it my background.” Stiles said, and Isaac smiled mischievously and did just that. Stiles grinned and pocketed his phone after changing the background.

“I hate all of you.” Derek muttered as he sunk into his desk and the Sheriff’s phone rung.

“Time to go, boys.”

* * *

“So what’s the verdict?” The sheriff asked as he walked into the building to meet Woody, the Beacon Hills coroner.

“I think I’m having relationship problems with my wife again. She stays at her girlfriend’s house more than she stays at home when I’m there.” Woody admitted with a nod and Stiles offered the quirky guy a smile.

“Woody, I meant about the bodies.” The sheriff said with a light hearted smiled offered to the coroner.

“Oh, right, well after further examination I found out something that I think you’ll all find interesting.” Woody said, revealing both the bodies for the three of them to see, and Stiles winced slightly because dead people, naked dead people. Scott didn’t really seem too phased by the bodies, except for maybe the smell.

“Is that a stich mark on the victims’ chests?” Stiles asked, stepping closer with a tilt of the head, biting his lip.

“That’s not the weirdest part, when I opened it, their hearts were removed and there was some sort of dust or something left behind.” Woody said, turning around and handing a vile to Stiles and he looked at it before uncapping it and pushing it towards Scott.

“Hm. It doesn’t smell like anything.” Scott said handing it back and the Sheriff took it from Stiles.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before.” The sheriff said after staring at the vile for a few seconds and passing it back to Stiles, who pocketed it.

“Well, that’s not all, folks. If you come over here and look at their necks, you see that they were cut. The way it seems was like something was constricting the neck, pushing it back, but not enough to actually cut it.” Woody said as he pointed out the slight bruising above the cut mark, barely even visible. Stiles nodded and licked his lips. “The cut that’s made has to be done with some sort of knife that would cause a clean cut, but also cause blood to flow drastically.”

“But there was no blood found on the body.” The sheriff said and Stiles looked at his dad.

“Muslims, the way their meat is prepared is by draining the animal of blood while praying and then eating it after, obviously cleaning it.” Stiles noted as a thought seeing as how this was a similar tactic. “But they don’t keep the blood.”

“What else is interesting is the way that the heart was cut out was impeccable.” Woody nodded with an approval which made Stiles give him a look before pursing his lips together.

“So you’re saying it has to be done by someone who knows what they’re doing? So maybe a doctor? Or someone with medical training?” Scott asked, eyes perking up and looking at Woody.

“Not necessarily, that’s too obvious.” Stiles said, “You can learn how to do those things without having a degree in those things. It really just depends on the person. Sometimes you need to step outside of what seems obvious and look at the bigger picture.”

“Did you find anything similar about them?” The sheriff asked as a final thought and Woody just shook his head and the sheriff sighed and visibly shrunk. Stiles licked his lips and reached out to touch one of the bodies before he closed his eyes and felt a shiver of something, something almost tangy like it was crawling up his arm with a little jolt of electricity, the same thing occurred with the other body.

“They have the same frequency.” Stiles stated before stepping back and looking at his father, Scott and Woody who all looked at him with wide eyes. “What?”

“Stiles, your eyes snapped open and flashed gold.” Scott said, “But not like mine. Not like a wolf. Like it was weird, it set me off and I just.”

“Maybe, maybe we should go. You have enough information for your research, right?” The sheriff asked, poking Scott in the back, causing the wolf to nod.

“I guess. See you later, Woody.”

* * *

It was a day after and Stiles was staring at the contents in the jar. Yesterday Stiles put a tip of it on his tongue and that had caused something in his body to reject it and had him violently vomit for an hour. Derek was nice enough to hold his hair back; Scott joked later on, and then stated that he’d never do that for one of his betas.

The jar was also scentless and the color didn’t really give anything away. Scott had taken him to Deaton, the vet and the pack emissary, but he produced other herds of similar color that too were scentless, so Stiles was still for a loss. Deaton himself was not too sure that it was just by sight, feel or color. The smell ruled everything out so Stiles was stuck with it.

Sighing, maybe if he glared at it long enough it’d reveal itself to him. Scott called him ridiculous and cross referenced different books for whatever types of human sacrifices he could find, but for some reason they were having a hard time finding out in a non-vague scenes how different cultures committed them and which ones matched. Woody had called his dad later and told him that any of those could have been how the two died after Stiles had asked which killed the two.

“Stiles, have you eaten yet?” Derek asked after a few minutes, and when Stiles looked up from the jar, he noticed that no one was around. Then he glanced at the clock and realized a few minutes was not a few minutes but a few hours.

“No. Have you?” Stiles asked and Derek shook his head, dropping four sandwiches and a cup of coffee on Stiles’ desk, taking the vile and putting it in Stiles’ desk.

“Take a break. You’re going to stress yourself too much.” Derek said, dragging Scott’s chair in front of Stiles’ annd opening the wrapping on one of the sandwiches, biting into it. Stiles sighed and took a sip of the coffee before opening one of sandwiches as well.

“I just keep thinking about those people. They were most probably tortured because either way, either of the things that could have killed them would have been slow and I don’t want that to happen to anyone else.” Stiles said around bites of his sandwich. Chewing slowly, he looked down at his hands that were holding the sandwich. “I wonder if they even got a last meal, like a proper one.”

“Stiles, you can’t think of that. If you can’t detach yourself with the victims and not get personal I’m going to take you off of this case.” Derek said sternly and Stiles was going to protest, but he looked up and into Derek’s eyes and his breath stopped in his throat. Derek looked genuinely concerned and worried, even though his features didn’t show it, his eyes did.

“I _won’t_. It just sucks, Derek, and I want to stop it.” Stiles said, biting his lip and tearing the wrapping to the second sandwich with his teeth.

“We will. It’ll just take time, you can’t know everything.” Derek said lightly, putting his hand on Stiles and gently pushing it towards the desk, where Stiles put his sandwich down on the wrapping from the other sandwich, and then let Derek’s hand stay atop his.

“What if someone else dies?” Stiles asked in a low voice, so very fragile he was sure that Derek took a breath. “And I could have stopped it if I—“

“No. If there’s another body then it’s not your fault. You’re doing all you can, Stiles, and I know death sucks but it’s unavoidable. It’s also not your fault; if people die it’s not your fault. It’s the person who’s killing them, so stop thinking like that.” Derek said, his hand tightening around Stiles’ and Stiles sighed contently.

“I—thanks Derek.” Stiles said, taking a sip of the coffee. “I need that. I just, fuck.” Stiles said using his free hand to rub his face before composing himself and turning his hand and squeezing Derek’s back before lacing their fingers together. Derek looked at their hands for a moment but didn’t move his hand away so Stiles took that as a good sign.

Because he was not starting to crush on his boss, his moody boss who was hot and cold. His boss who told him things like it wasn’t his fault if more people died because he was doing everything he could. His boss who was holding his hand and eating sandwiches with him, _his boss who probably bought four sandwiches and coffee for Stiles._ His boss who was actually a nice guy around the scruffy grumpiness and admittedly kind of cute.  His boss who was _Derek freakin’ Hale._ His boss who was actually on good terms with his father.

Well, the last one was a good thing.

Crap, was his heart beating faster because Derek was looking at him like something was wrong and oh crap.

Maybe this wasn’t a crush.

It defiantly wasn’t when Scott and Isaac walked in and Derek didn’t let go of his hand.

“Crap.”

“What?” Derek asked, Scott and Isaac sent them side glances as they pulled their own chairs over to Stiles’ desk, well, Scott pulled Boyd’s because Derek was in his. Neither of them said anything about Stiles holding Derek’s hand even though they both looked at it.

“What?” Stiles asked, looking away from Scott and Isaac who were giving him odd glances and looked at Derek, tilting his head slightly and licking his lips and no he did not stare at Derek’s lips, nope, not even for a moment. He didn’t kick Isaac either when he heard a breathy laugh because that dick would be the first to notice, hell he probably even noticed before Stiles did.

Stiles’ cellphone background did happen to be Derek as a child.

Crap.

“That. You said that twice.” Derek said with a raised eyebrow and Stiles realized he said crap aloud twice. So to cover it up he shrugged, even though he got the eyebrow from Derek.

“So, where are the others?” Stiles quickly deflected and thank God Isaac and all his assiness decided to take pity on Stiles. They were going to have words later; oh boy they were going to have words.

“They’re coming in a few. Jackson went to go pick up Lydia.” Scott said right as they walked in. Lydia smiled and walked up to Stiles, standing next to him waiting while Jackson dragged his chair over for her, then grabbed the guest chair for himself, Erica decided to sit behind Stiles on Jackson’s desk and Boyd took the last space in their impromptu rectangular circle.

“Perfect timing.” Stiles said smiling, before he saw Lydia smirk at him and he tilted his head before realizing his hand was still connected to Derek’s. Trying his best not to let disappointment show, but obviously failing, Derek looked at him with an emotion he couldn’t read but let his hand slide back to his side. No one said anything, aloud anyways.

Stiles slightly shoved Lydia’s arm, which was not covered seeing as how she was wearing a half sleeved blouse, and Stiles felt it. A shiver of something almost tangy like it was crawling up his arm with a little jolt of electricity, like the bodies. “They’re witches.”

“What?” Derek asked with a face that was flooding with realization.

“The bodies. That’s the common factor, they’re witches. You felt the same thing with them that you felt when you touched Lydia didn’t you?” Scott asked, his eyes going wide with excitement.

“This just got a whole lot more dangerous.” Stiles said as he looked at Lydia. “Don’t go anywhere without someone with you.”

“Why?” Lydia asked with a slightly bewildered face that was also covered with amusement.

“Someone’s ritually sacrificing witches.”

* * *

Scott drove them to the Sheriff's Department because Stiles was shaking. He was shaking so badly Derek had to literally hold him in place and make Stiles watch him take deep breathes but he didn't stop. Stiles wasn't sure what it was, but something in his body just made him feel shaky but not in a bad way. Like his ADD but instead of his mind it was outward and odd. So therefore Scott pushed Stiles into his Toyota and buckled him in.

"Dad?" Stiles called as he walked in with Scott and past the deputies because they knew him by now mostly. "Dad." He called again because he had too much energy, like the energy had a mind of its own and was overriding Stiles' body.

"Stiles, Scott, what are you boys doing here?" His dad asked as he walked into the rooms and honesty he felt like he was shaking harder than before. "Are you okay? You seem a lot off."

"No, I don't know. But I know what the victims have in common. They're witches." Stiles said and his dad walked over to Stiles and pushed his hands down on Stiles' shoulders.

"Maybe you should see the doctor because you haven't been this shaky since your mom died and you wouldn't let go of her." His dad said and Stiles blanched before he rolled his eyes.

"Hello, dad, I found the common stand point. Witches did you not hear me? People boys or girls, even though more people consider male witches wizards, who use magic." Stiles said, exasperation obviously in his tone. Scott had switched places with the sheriff in holding Stiles as still as he could.

"How do you know for sure though? How are you sure that its not just a guess?" His dad asked, his professional mask sliding on with ease; he'd gotten so used to switching between the two.

"Because Lydia Martin." Stiles answered like that was all that he needed to say, but The sheriff gave him a glance then one to Scott who shrugged then back to him. "Oh my God, she's a witch. I touched her earlier and the sensation that I felt with them is what I felt with her."

"But I thought you said you only feel it once, and I know you've touched her the first time you met her, it's what you do." The sheriff said with a sigh and rubbed his face before nodding and writing witches on a piece of paper and pinning it up to the board behind him. "So, now we know what they have in common we need to find out what type of sacrifice it is, so we can narrow it down to who."

"I guess we'll find out eventually, sir, but for now we'll return and research some more before doing anything else." Scott said leading the less shaky Stiles back to the car and again buckling him up anyways.

After a good few minutes they were walking through the doors and Stiles dove straight to his now clear of people desk. Digging through the drawers, he took the vile out and again stared at it and pursed his lips. If he could just figure out what this was then he could probably figure out what type of sacrifice this was and probably find the killer.

"Stiles, what is that?" Lydia asked after. Stiles checked the clock, ten minutes. He gave her a glance and shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine. I've been staring at it for a while now hoping it'll just tell me itself." Stiles said, his eyes again staring at the vile, examining, pondering, and using his mind to cross reference different herbs that were used to do anything at all but he couldn't come up with one answer. Lydia though, looked from Stiles, the bottle and back to Stiles.

"Let me see it." She said before Stiles could get a word of protest in at all. Lydia rolled the vile in her hand before looking back at Stiles. "Will I get arrested if I open it?"

"No, I can vouch for you." Stiles said before tilting his head and watching Lydia work with curiosity. She pulled the cap off and put some of the powder on her hands before rolling it from hand to hand after putting the vile down. She raised an eyebrow and tried to smell it to no avail before clearing a spot on the desk and putting the powder on it.

"Anyone have a lighter?" Lydia asked and Boyd handed her one and now everyone was watching. She light the lighter and grabbed one of the twigs that was dragged inside earlier because it was reaching autumn and that's when things started to decay like trees. Lydia light the end on fire before carefully placing the flame in the middle of the circle of powder, and after a few minutes it exploded into a bright golden flame before going out.

"What the fuck?" Stiles said, pushing back as far as she can go and Lydia rolled her eyes at him.

"Don't be a baby. That flame was nothing, but the powder." Lydia started but stopped thinking for a moment. "I'm pretty sure it's mistletoe."

"How can you be so sure?" Scott asked from beside her and she shrugged.

"It's often used in magic, more with the Druids. You can tell this mistletoe has been enhanced with magic from a Druid because it was cut with a golden blade which is what Druids used to do a long time ago. They used mistletoe mostly for protection and what not." Lydia said and Stiles shook his head even though his mind was already stirring.

"But how are you so sure it's mistletoe?" Stiles asked and Lydia frowned down at him as she swept the powder back into the vile with her hands.

"Because I've been working with mistletoe, and these little bigger bumps in the powder are the berries." Lydia stated and pointed it out and it was good enough for Stiles. "I'm appalled that you had to ask me, you should know I'm always right."

"True my queen, very true." Stiles said as he slipped into the second floor library and pulled out two books before walking back to his desk. "You said Druids, right?"

"Yes." Lydia said, watching him curiously as Scott seemed to get the message and grabbed his own books and looked up Druid sacrifices. After an hour, Stiles looked up and tried to push Lydia away.

"I'm working, Lyds." He said, huffing in annoyance, but Lydia wouldn't have it.

"Derek is closing so you’re coming with me. _Now_." Lydia growled out the demand and Stiles jumped to his feet, causing the others to laugh. Lydia kissed Jackson goodbye and Stiles gave Derek a fleeting look before throwing a generic goodbye and walked out with Lydia.

"I know you care a lot, and we respect that but you are too much. We're worried about you stressing yourself into an early heart attack." Lydia said, taking Stiles hand into hers easily and seeing as how he walked and Lydia got a ride, they'd be walking to her house.

"I eat too healthy for that." Stiles countered but Lydia rolled her eyes at him and shoved him lightly with their joint hands, but all he could think about was his hand in Derek's earlier.

"So you and Derek, huh? I think it's cute, he hasn't had anybody in God knows how long. He never had one after Jackson got bit, and I'm not sure he had one before that either. You'd have to ask Isaac." Lydia commented and Stiles froze, causing her to stop as well.

"I—I, _what_? No, no, me and Derek we're just coworkers." Lydia looked at him, rolled her eyes and dragged him on.

"He doesn't buy his betas sandwiches when they work like crazy, hell he barely buys them anything. And he sure does not hold hands with them, not in front of the pack and not in private either." Lydia said and she'd known Derek a long time so she had to be right, but that didn't mean he had to believe her.

"He said I wasn't pack. Just a researcher."  Stiles said and Lydia gave him a look he couldn't read.

"When?" Was all she asked and he was slightly disappointed she wasn't arguing Derek's statement.

"Uh, a few days before the case I think." Stiles said and nodded, "probably around a week ago."

"Stiles, it took him two years of me and Jackson dating for him to trust me and become a part of the pack. He wouldn't even keep his eyes off of me when I was near him like I was going to destroy the pack." Lydia stated as they stopped in front of her house, finally having walked half an hour.

"So what are you trying to say?" Stiles asked, because now he was honesty confused.

"If he's holding your hand freely and buying you food, which is werewolf speak for feeding a pack mate who's too busy to feed himself, providing for you, he either likes you or he loves you. You're pack, Stiles, either way. And if he hired you of all people on the spot I'm leaning more towards love. He's not good with people, so he has a habit of saying things he doesn't mean, a lot." Lydia lectured and she could probably teach a Derek Hale 101. But to be honest he wanted to know why Derek wasn't as accepting and damaged as he was. "His entire family almost died in a hunting raid when the hunters were attempting to rebel. One of the hunters was his best friend, so cut him some slack, he considered that person family, pack, from the moment they met. He just never recovered." Stiles bit his lip and let the information sink in before he thought for a moment.

"Thanks, Lydia, I appreciate this." He said as he turned, hands in his sweaters pockets.

"What I do for love and my idiot friends." Lydia called back and Stiles stuck his tongue out at her, but kept walking towards his own house.

Derek didn't trust people easily, since his best friend almost killed his entire family. The friend who wasn't pack by blood or bite but who he considered pack, and they betrayed him to kill everyone. He wasn't good with words, probably because he blamed himself for the incident but that thought upset Stiles.

Maybe, just maybe, somewhere deep inside Derek was finally opening up to him and that thought made Stiles smile and let out a breathy, lovesick laugh.

With the goofy grin on his face he smiled and walked into his house. Hopefully Roland hadn't eaten all the M&M brownies.

* * *

“Stiles,” Isaac called as he walked over to him in the middle of the day, dragging Scott’s empty chair over to the desk. “We need to have a talk, mate.”

“What?” Stiles asked up from the book he was currently taking notes on. He still hadn’t found out much on the different way druids commit human sacrifices but how they use mistletoe.

“Everyone’s a little bit worried about you, and don’t get us wrong we all know that you go deep into your work when you get a case, but we’ve never seen you so, well, like how you are. We’re worried you’re going to work too hard.” Isaac said and Stiles rolled his eyes, he really didn’t understand why everyone was freaking out. “No, you don’t get to do that. You’re working yourself crazy. You know how you hate when your dad works nonstop because you worry about him? It’s the same for us with you.”

“I’m not even that bad. I don’t even bring this work home, Isaac. I’m just doing my job.” Stiles argued because now they were overacting, he wasn’t acting like that and nor had his dad in a long time.

“Bambi, you sit there for hours and don’t move, eat, talk and look like a completely different person from when you’re not working. It’s like everything that involves keeping yourself healthy is pushed aside. You’re making this too personal.” Isaac said, pointing out the full cup of coffee Scott brought Stiles in the morning about five or so hours ago. Stiles shrugged and choked the cold coffee down.

“I’m fine, Isaac. I’m just doing my job. The faster I find out,ck the faster we can catch the bad guy.” Stiles said and Isaac shook his head and put a hand on Stiles’ shoulder.

“No. Our job is to find out all the information. Once you hand over everything you know and can find out, when you can make sure what this ritual is used for and how it’s committed the case is over. The sheriff’s department handles everything from there. Your job is almost done. And to be honest, if there was going to be another body, we’d already have found it so please stop working yourself until someone has to force you to stop and be healthy.” Isaac said and Stiles looked at the book in his hands and sighed. closing it and putting it down, he turned fully to Isaac and put his hands in his face. Isaac gave his shoulders a comforting rub, extended it down to his arms and the finally let go. “Why do you make everything so personal?”

“I just. Crap, I just.” Stiles shook his head and burrowed his body into himself as much as he could, he didn’t want to think about it. “My mom, and if I could have found out a little bit faster, if I was a little bit better and knew more, I could have saved her and I just can’t have that happen again.” He was shaking now but Isaac gave a small sigh and pulled him into a hug.

“I’m sure she’s proud of you, you’re amazing at this. But she’d be upset to see you almost obsessed, just turn it down a notch.” Isaac said but did not press on because he knew the problems with parents were never easy to discuss when said parent was no longer alive.

“I, thanks.” Stiles said after a moment of recomposing himself and Isaac nodded before he grabbed the book and tossed it to the other side of the desk only for it to fall off. Isaac smirked at him and Stiles made a face, going to pick it up but then spotted something that just changed everything. “Deaton’s our emissary right?”

“For the pack, yes  Why?” Isaac asked as he walked over to Stiles and tried to read the book over his shoulder, but Stiles snapped it shut

“Take me there, now.” Stiles insisted and pushed Isaac out the door as everyone was coming back from their lunch break, giving them odd looks.

“Stiles?” Scott called out but he’d already climbed into Isaac’s Toyota Camry and drove off, leaving everyone in the dust.

“I don’t understand what’s going on, but if you get us killed, I’m going to haunt you in the afterlife Stilinski, don’t think I won’t.” Isaac halfheartedly threatened as he drove to the vet’s office and after the short drive; Stiles jumped out of the car and ran inside.

“You’re a druid.” Stile said as Deaton walked over to the doors to see what the commotion was all about.

“I am.” Deaton confirmed, opening the door that was made of mountain ash for Isaac and let the two of them in and back into the examination room.

“It was mistletoe, I know what druids use them for but does that mean that the killer is a druid?” Stiles asked as he tapped his fingers against his leg, a rush of energy following through him causing him to act a bit on edge.

“Well, the usual way a druid would commit a sacrifice is by constricting the neck of the victim and slicing their throat and allowing the blood to flow onto the nemeton or any other tree connected with the earth. The powers of druids coincide with the Earth because they are beings who work with or for the earth. Normally sacrifices are made to power the user or the power of the earth.” Deaton said calmly, which put Stiles on edge.

“So, what if there was no blood found, and if the heart was gone?” Stiles asked and Isaac gave him a side glance because obviously he didn’t know those facts about the bodies.

“That, I do not know Mr. Stilinski. That is all the information I can offer you, but there are other cultures who offer hearts to gods so maybe it’s a different culture.” Deaton offered before returning to what he was doing before the interruption and Stiles narrowed his eyes and nodded. Taking out his cellphone, he texted Scott everything he just found out and told him to put it with the case file he was presenting for his father. There was only one thing left he needed to find out about the murderer and that was why the hearts, because finding anything with the draining of blood was providing inconclusive.

When they walked inside Hale & Co after the drive over, Scott handed Stiles a package of paper with all the information they had gathered the past few days while researching. “The heart thing, it’s an ancient Mayan ritual called Ah Nacom, in which the heart is taken from the body.”

“That means this package is literally everything we know and can possibly find on the information of the killings.” Stiles said, with a slight feeling of disappointment because this meant that it was over, the job was done. There was nothing left for him to do, but at the same time it was a good thing, meaning that they were as close as they were going to get to solving the case. That was all Stiles could ever want, so Scott took them to the Sheriff’s Department and they were officially signed off on a job well done.

* * *

The next day, Stiles arrived at Hale & Co bright and early as always with a bright smile on his face and a tin of freshly baked cookies in the other. He slowly walked behind the wolf who was opening up and then jabbed him in the middle of his back causing the other to jump and whip around. “Hey, bossman!”

“Stiles.” Derek gritted out and took a deep breath before opening the door and allowing the other in first, so Stiles squeezed in-between Derek’s body and the door to scurry his way inside. “I didn’t hear, smell or feel you coming.”

“It’s because I’m super awesome at scaring magical creatures.” Stiles winked and opened the tin to offer the wolf a cookie. Derek rolled his eyes and took one. “It’s because I’m the master of all things, bow down to me!”

“Thanks, but I think I’m good on power play.” Derek said, letting his eyes flash red, causing Stiles to pout, and Derek to actually full out grin at the younger. Stiles licked his lip and visibly swallowed because damn, that was an attractive smile.

“Yeah, I think so too.” He said stupidly before looking away and taking a seat. “It’s weird not having anything to do now.”

“Yeah, but I’m sure you’ll find some way to keep yourself entertained.” Derek commented before going to sit down at his own seat.

And it was weird, not having anything to do after working so diligently on the case. There were no phone calls that day, or walk in visitors and no emails on the website. Stiles sighed and started to type something into his computer before Erica came up to him and grabbed his hands with a bag of nail polish in one hand. Stiles rolled his eyes but allowed her to give him a manicure.

Erica decided to paint Stiles’ nails a purplish black like the night sky, and then added paw prints on them except for on the thumbs where she put a full moon and Stiles scoffed. When Stiles’ nails dried, Erica and Stiles both kicked their shoes off and allowed the other to paint the other’s toe nails. Erica decided to paint his toes a plain black and Stiles made her a bright pink to match her nails. After they were done with each other, they harassed Scott and Boyd into the mix, and Stiles painted Scott’s nails a light blue like Isaac’s eyes with a layer of sparkles over it and the same with his toes. After wards they grabbed Jackson and Isaac into the mix.

Stiles tackled Isaac who was more willing to have his nails painted while Erica literally wrestled Jackson into submission. Stiles had decided to paint Isaac’s nails similar to his and painted them stark white with paw prints on all of them but his index fingers, on his index fingers Stiles attempted to draw a puppy face by painting the corners black like for ears, then two dots for eyes and then another dot with extended curvy lines for the face. Isaac approved and he now he was currently adding paw prints to Isaac’s toes when Derek walked over and rolled his eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Alpha, would you like me to paint yours next?” Stiles asked while Boyd and Scott watched Erica and Stiles work, Isaac and Jackson were both blowing on their wet nails. “I can paint them red and write a l p h a on each finger.”

“No.” Derek growled out as Stiles drew the last puppy on Isaac’s big toe and worked on the last two paw prints. It was hard drawing details on tiny nails of people’s toes. “Would you like to get lunch with me?”

Stiles almost fucked up Isaac’s last paw print in shock. “You’re asking me and now demanding me?”

“Yes, Stiles, would you like to come with me?” Derek sighed already feeling the eyes of his beta’s on him but he didn’t want to deal with it.

“Like a date?” Stiles asked, because he really wanted to be right, if not, he was over thinking things and that was also okay as long as Derek didn’t make it weird, or if Stiles’ didn’t.

“Yes.” Derek said walking over to the coat rack and putting his jacket on. Stiles fumbled and practically threw Isaac’s feet out of his lap, causing the beta to laugh at Stiles’ haste and him to flip the beta off. Grabbing his own sweater and throwing it over his plaid shirt, he smiled and pushed Derek out the door.

“Where to, bossman?” Stiles said out of habit, but, crap, you don’t call your boss your boss while you’re on a _date_ with them. Even if it’s just to lunch. But his boss was also Derek who wasn’t really much of a boss rather than bossy.

“Don’t call me that.” Derek rolled his eyes and took Stiles’ hand into his own before shoving their connected hands into his jacket and leading them down the roads to one of the diners.

“Oh, I’m sorry, sourwolf.” Stiles said and Derek huffed and rolled his eyes as he brought Stiles into the store and ordered them food.

“So, why me?” Stiles asked quietly as he played with the straw in his drink as they waited for their food. “You don’t even consider me pack.”

“Stiles, I.” Derek stared but stopped, taking a drink of his soda and looked him in the eye. “I’m sorry. I’m just really bad with people and I was afraid if I let you know you were pack, you’d be reckless. Everyone is reckless in the pack and they like to think their invincible and something bad has happened to all of them. I just don’t want you do get hurt too.”

“I’m a big boy, Derek, I’m sure I can take care of myself if something happens.” Stiles deadpanned but nodded to him in appreciation. “I’m sure it’ll be okay, Derek.”

“I know. I just, I’m not very good at trusting people easily.” Derek said, looking down at his hands at the table. “My friend, Kate, she—she ended up being a hunter and tried to kill my entire family. I—I trusted her moments after I met her, because well, she was so beautiful and I just, I wanted to have someone. I was young and stupid and—“

“Hey, no, everyone makes mistakes. Not everyone is a good person and I understand you not trusting people easily. No one got hurt, Derek, you still have your family.” Stiles said, not allowing himself to feel jealous because it was stupid, and now he had a bigger family than him and his dad, he had the pack. Derek looked up when Stiles took his hand with a smile.

“Thank you, I just. There’s just something about you that always made me feel relaxed.” Derek confessed, looking back down at the table. “You just had this vibe when I met you, like you were right.”

“So, what does that mean?” Stiles asked rubbing his thumb on the back of Derek’s hand and Derek gave a shrug.

“I don’t know.” He answered honestly and they detangled their hands when their waitress brought them their food.

“That you like me?” Stiles offered around a bit of his food and he felt Derek rub his foot against his leg.

“Maybe.” Derek said with a smile before he took a bite of his own food and Stiles sighed contently.

* * *

“You don’t have to walk me home Derek, I actually brought my own car today.” Stiles said as they were leaving that day and Derek rolled his eyes.

“I’ll walk you to your car.” Derek said and lightly shoved Stiles towards the door. Behind them they heard Jackson scoffing and Isaac and Scott snickering. Erica swatted them all on the back of their head as Boyd smiled brightly at them.

“One date and now they’re acting like lovesick puppies.” Isaac said with a fake swooning wrapping his arms around Scott. “Were we like that?”

“I think we were a lot less subtle about our attraction.” Scott answered honestly and Isaac smiled brightly and pressed a kiss on Scott’s lips before pressing another on one his forehead and Scott practically whined contently.

“Ugh, you guys are so stupid.” Stiles said, throwing them a kissy face as he let Derek drag him out of the building and over to his car. “So is this going to be a thing now? Like Scott and Isaac except not mated slash married.”

“I don’t know, do you want it to be?” Derek asked as he watched Stiles lean against the door of his Jeep. Stiles hummed slightly and grabbed Derek’s shirt and pulled the alpha towards him.

“I don’t know, do _you_ want it to be?” Stiles asked coyly with a smug grin. Derek licked his lips before bringing them down to Stiles and Stiles’ breath hitched. Their lips moved slowly against the other’s, wet but not disgusting. The kiss was slow and soft and Stiles found himself carding his hands through Derek’s hair while the other placed his hands on the side of Stiles’ hips. They continued their slow, not needy but completely wonderful kiss as Derek pressed Stiles against his jeep. Stiles sighed between the kiss contently and then after a moment they broke apart.

“I don’t know. I’m starting to think it is.” Derek said, placing another kiss on Stiles’ cheek, then neck and Stiles felt like putty in Derek’s hands.

“Yeah, me too.” Stiles breathed out as he slowly and reluctantly let go of his hold on Derek. “But I think it’s time for me to go get on home and make dinner for my dad.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Derek said against Stiles’ neck before stepping back and watching Stiles climb into his jeep and drive away.

Stiles was driving the quick route home, only to find out half the way there that it was blocked off and he needed to go the long way through the side of the woods and around the town, so Stiles sighed and did just that. He turned the radio on while driving because he hated driving in silence.

It was starting to get dark and Stiles was starting to get a strange feeling in his gut as he drove through the side of the woods. Something wasn’t right. Something was off when he saw the deer running straight to his car rather than away from him, he did his best to turn the car but ended up driving into a tree.  He groaned the registered someone cackling and grabbing him before he fully blacked out.

When Stiles came to, he wasn’t really sure what he expected, but being tied up to a post while standing was not one of those things. Neither was the feeling of something wet sliding down the side of his head, before he registered that it was his own blood and he promptly tried not to freak out.

“You know, this wasn’t what I had planned.” A voice said from his side and he tried to crane his neck over to see who it was but that’s when he felt the wire press into his neck and he instead pressed his head as far back against the pole as he could. “Ah, ah, ah. Unless you want to choke to death I wouldn’t do that, _Stiles_.”

“Who are you?” Stiles asked, his voice harsh and cracked but he didn’t move in case he hurt himself more. The person walked in front of him. He was tall with black hair, slightly lanky with a hard, angry face.

“Matt Daehler, but I doubt you would have ever heard of me.” _Matt_ said, “And it’s not like you’ll ever get to tell anyone either.”

“So, if you’re going to kill me, can you at least tell me why?” Stiles asked, trying his best not to panic or freak out because a panic attack was not what he needed right now.

“What? Like some cliché villain from a bond movie or comic book?” Matt asked with a deadpanned look before rolling his eyes. “Who do you think I am?”

“Well, I’m going to die anyways, might as well tell me why you’re breaking from the ritual circle. I’m not a witch and druids kill in three.” Stiles said before he looked at the exposed parts of Matt’s skin and then frowned. “But you don’t have a druid mark.”

“Oh my God, you really don’t know do you?” Matt asked and Stiles looked at him and licked his lips before he attempted to nod but the wire prevented him from moving too much. “That’s priceless. Okay fine, I’ll indulge you. A last discovery in everything else you’ve managed to learn. I’m not a druid, but I am trying to gain power. When you mix the rituals between the druids and the Mayans while you’re from neither origin you can take the power and double it. I was hoping to cycle once more after getting you but you were on to too much. The boy who knew too much because he was a nosy son of a bitch.”

Matt walked up to Stiles and punched him in the cheek and it took everything Stiles had not to let his head snap to the side and let the wire cut him. He spat blood at Matt who tsked.

“Now, now, no need to waste more blood. I need that for later, as well as your heart.” Matt said with a grin and it finally hit Stiles.

“ _Oh my God_ , you’re drinking the blood and eating their hearts.” Stiles practically shrieked and Matt laughed.

“Give the boy a prize. It’s the best way to absorb their powers, to make me stronger.” Matt said with a pat on Stiles' head and then went to grab his knife from the table set up not too far from where Stiles was being kept. He tried to assess the area, it seemed like some sort of abandoned train deport or something of the kind. Taking a deep breath, he tried to sense if anything was around that could help him but he could feel nothing.

“But that doesn’t explain, why me? I’m human.” Stiles said and Matt threw the knife which cut his cheek before it landed next to him on the pole.

“You really, really don’t know? Then let me tell you. You have old magic in your blood, magic that hasn’t existed for years, not since the middle ages.” Matt said, walking over to him and pulling the knife from the pole, but it was wedged deep inside so he had to wiggle it out. Stiles would have kicked at him if his legs weren’t tied up.

“My mother was a Vila and her mother before that and so forth. There were no witches in my family.” Stiles said like Matt was crazy, which Stiles was starting to believe.

“You’re right. No witches, but something better than that, more powerful. You’re great grandfather was Merlin or also known as Emrys. The power is in the name _Stiles_ , which is why you always had the compulsion to not allow other to know your name. Other than the fact that it’s a terrible name. The power is in the name, and yours happens to derive from a long line until finally the power of Merlin was passed on to you.” Matt said and Stiles held his breath. No, there was no way. Those stories even in these days were still said to be nothing but stories. The tale of King Arthur and his magical advisor, Merlin could not be true, because they were stories he grew up on, stories his mother told him that her father told her and so forth.

“You still don’t believe me? When you touched those dead bodies, the ones who’s magic I stole--your eyes, tell me, did they change?” Matt asked and Stiles’ breath stopped. “They did, didn’t they, a golden color. Its old magic, magic which all magic derived on, including that of werewolves. Its why their eyes flash a different color. It shows the origins and in the old days, magic users, powerful ones, sorcerers and warlocks eyes flashed to show their magical strength and power. Stiles if I let you live and don’t take your powers you can turn into a powerful warlock just like your great, great, great, great, great, really fucking great grandfather.”

“So, why’d you wait this long then, if you wanted to off me?” Stiles asked, narrowing his eyes and watched Matt sharpen his blade, then, Stiles felt something, something comforting like something was coming but it was something good. So, he stalled more.

“Because I needed to be sure and then make sure you were alone. Also, I needed to make sure you weren’t going to use magic, I needed to be more powerful than you and here’s the kicker, I always was.” Matt laughed, finally getting ready to use the pointy knife, testing the tip against his finger and producing blood.

“But, why? Why are you even doing this, why do you need the power?” Stiles asked as he looked from the blade to Matt.

“Revenge. You’re stupid friend Isaac. You don’t know anything about that either do you? Do they tell you anything where you work? Or are you constantly out of the circle? His father tried to _kill_ me. And what did that bastered do? NOTHING!” Matt screamed and finally lunged, plunging the knife, in what Stiles finally noticed, his bare chest. Stiles bit back a scream as he felt the knife dig deep and he finally figured the victims died from their hearts being cut out.

But before Matt could do anything else, he was ripped away from Stiles by a pair of large teeth, which belonged to a giant black wolf. Stiles tried to take a relaxing breath but he couldn’t with the knife in his chest. That was when the pack in their beta form ran into the train deport along with the police. Scott was next to Stiles in a second, pulling the dagger out immediately and pressed his hand to Stiles’ chest to prevent the bleeding. Stiles wasn’t in as much pain with the contact, but he had enough time to see black lines flowing up Scott’s veins before he let his blurry eyes focus back on the wolf who he assumed was Derek seeing as how Stiles hadn’t seen his beta form running around.

As of right now, the wolf was growling at the body that was bleeding on the floor who Stiles was sure was Matt. The deputies were gathering around the body guns pointed but Matt wasn’t moving and Derek wasn’t either. His father ran to Stiles’ side and grabbed him, calling an Eta on the paramedics before Stiles blacked out.

* * *

It was a week before Stiles was allowed out of the hospital. The stab wound was deep in his chest and he had to get stiches, as well as getting stiches on the side of his head from his car crash. He had lost a lot of blood and was out for three days of his weeklong stay. Eventually though, with the help of his father, he was released. He was walking fine, but sometimes it was hard for him to breath. Stiles had to buzz his head again like when he was in high school, but that was fine.

So was the hospital stay, the pack visited him often. Scott and Isaac brought him stupid teddy bears and balloons, Erica and Boyd brought him something other than the disgusting hospital food, and Lydia and Jackson brought him tons and tons of DVDs, even though some of them were romcoms. Derek never left his side through the entire stay, except to shower and eat every now and then.

Matt was found dead, because apparently Derek in wolf form had not only ripped Matt away from Stiles, but had also ripped Matt’s arms off and Matt ended up bleeding to death. Stiles honestly thought he deserved it after killing and draining two people of their blood. It was nice to know a psychopathic cannibal was gone.

It was also nice being released and now Derek was driving Stiles home. Stiles was trailing his hand over the scar and the few stiches that were now on his chest, getting his hand slapped by Derek who told him to cut it out, but it was now an unconscious twitch.

“So, apparently I’m magic. I derive from Merlin.” Stiles said. He had told his dad in the official statement of what happened, but he never really got around to telling Derek himself.

“I heard. Explains the eye thing Scott told me about. I didn’t know he was real.” Derek said, his voice tight and Stiles looked at him and took his hand in Stiles’ own.

“Neither did I, but hey, I guess that explains my sixth sense with the supernatural. I don’t think I’ll actually be able to do magic.” Stiles said, but Derek didn’t lose any of his tension, even as they walked inside Stiles’ house and up to his room.

“Maybe Deaton can show you, since druids are also magical users in their own way.” Derek said and Stiles huffed out a sigh and crossed his arms.

“Okay, Derek, why are you being all, well, broody and reserved. What did I do?” Stiles asked, sighing because he really didn’t need this. He wanted to do other things.

“I just. I’m sorry.” Derek said, pulling Stiles into his arms for a hug and holding him for a moment before letting go and leaning against the back wall. “I just, I wasn’t able to protect you. I should have driven you home that day but I didn’t.”

“How’d you know, anyways, that I was taken?” Stiles asked, because that was one of the two questions no one answered for him after he came to in the hospital.

“I just, something felt wrong after you left. Like someone took my breath and wasn’t allowing me to breath. And then your dad called a while after and said you hadn’t come home and I just knew. I knew that something was wrong.” Derek said and Stiles moved closer to him, caressing his cheeks with his hand. Derek wrapped his arms loosely around Stiles’ waste.

“But how did you find me?” Stiles asked and Derek looked at Stiles for a moment before smiling and placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

“Because, I can pick your heart beat out from miles away. I drove around the town for hours listening for it until I actually found it. I called everyone and went in, but I couldn’t find you right away, the place was like a maze so I shifted to my full wolf mode because my senses are better that way and I just had to find you, because _fuck_ who knows what could have happened if I hadn’t gotten there when I did.” Derek said and dropped his head against Stiles’ neck. Stiles sighed and ran his hand through Derek’s hair.

“But you did, and that’s all that mattered.”

* * *

Stiles and Derek had a tradition, every Wednesday and Friday weere their date nights because they needed as much time together as they could get. Often they went to Derek’s house but that ended up with Scott and Isaac being there, sometimes it was at Stiles’ house and that ended up with his dad being there and sometimes they ended up going out.

But somedays, like today, were special and they were alone. It was three months since the Matt situation and Derek and Stiles were alone in Derek’s house. Scott and Isaac had opted for their own date night. Derek had cooked and they were curled up in Derek’s bed watching a movie. Stiles looked up at Derek rather than the movie and finally after a while Derek noticed and looked at Stiles and gave him a smile.

“I love you.” Stiles said and tilted his head. Derek looked at him with wide eyes before sitting up and looking at Stiles.

“Do you mean that?” Derek asked and Stiles smiled and pulled Derek in for a kiss, and it wasn’t like their usual, carefree, loving, slow kisses. Instead it was more fiery and desperate with their teeth clashing slightly and Stiles pulled Derek’s lip into his and gave it a small suck before pulling back. Derek opened his eyes after a moment mirroring the hazy look in Stiles’ eyes.

“Yeah. Yeah I do.” Stiles said and Derek grinned at him before flipping above him, and ran his hands over Stiles’ stomach after slipping them under his shirt.

“Yeah, I love you too.” Derek said, kissing and sucking against Stiles’ throat, leaving both stubble burn and a bruise. Stiles sighed contently while he let his hand brush the back of Derek’s neck and slowly, Derek pulled Stiles’ shirt off, but not before memorizing the feeling of Stiles’ stomach and chest. Stiles frowned down at his chest as Derek pulled back, the scar was now a lot more prominent and ugly and Stiles hated it because it made him feel helpless.

“Stop thinking.” Derek growled before he kissed from Stiles’ neck to his scar, then he licked it and Stiles moaned a bit before he tried to stop Derek from doing anything with the scar because it made him feel ugly. Derek rolled his eyes and sat up. “Stiles, you’re beautiful, scar and all. Every part of you. Every mole, every blemish, every deformity, everything that makes you, you, its beautiful and perfect.”

“God, you sure know you to sweet talk a guy.” Stiles sighed lightly and then his breath hitched and back arched when Derek licked one of his nipples. “And how to turn a guy on.”

“Do I?” Derek asked as he took the nipple between his teeth and worked his hands down towards Stiles’ waist to pull his pants and boxers off.

“Oh God, you do.” Stiles said, his voice getting tighter and heavier as Derek kept doing what he was doing. “You know what you’re doing, huh?”

“I guess we’ll find out.” Derek said, pressing another kiss on Stiles.

And they did find out.

And they found out many, many times, in a row.

* * *

The next day when Derek got to work he noticed the sign on the door was different.

_Welcome to Hale, Stilinski & Co. Supernatural Consultancy where we assist you with problems with the supernatural. We’re open Mon-Sun, seven thirty am to nine pm. No problems too big or too small. You can reach us online at www.Hale&Co.supcon.com. We can handle anything from death defining idiocy to saving cats from trees! Feel free to email us with your problems. _

Shaking his head, Derek smiled and walked inside.


End file.
